Sunday, May 30, 2010

I realize that Cincode Mayo is mainly just an excuse for bars to bring in more coeds but I am a little Mexican so I love the excuse to eat a little Mexican food. Cincode Mayo snuck up on me this year. I woke up and realized I had no plans. A grocery trip later and I was ready. I made green salsa, steak tacos, beans, rice, guacamole, mango and pineapple and Orchata. On a whim I invited my buddy Erika and her family. Dinner was so yummy.

It has been exceptionally hot in the midwest this last week. Old people dying in unairconditioned homes kind of hot. The kind of hot that gets national news. To give the residents some relief, my community opened the pool a couple of days early. G bear and E were thrilled. Peach, not so much. I'd like to think her bad attitude was the result of not having had a nap all day. Just as likely, she just hates the pool. Poor girl. I found the kids suits at TJ Max. I hadn't been there in years but on a whim decided to check it out. Three suits including Ezra's swim shirt $30. Not garage sale prices but didn't break the bank either!

Friday, May 28, 2010

Pinkeye, a word no mother wants to hear after bringing her kidlets home from nursery. More than once the kids have picked it up and it has been a nightmare. The goop, the gunk, the eyes crusted shut in the morning. Then comes the drops. All three of my kids make the drops regiment a nightmare. Kicking, screaming, running, scratching, it takes both Dr. J and me to get the job done. I used to feel bad for the kids. I thought wow those drops must really sting. Last week Dr. J and I both got a sore throat. He was fine the next day. Mine moved to my chest, then into my sinuses. Within a week I had a full blown case of pink eye. We were pretty sure it was viral but drops were provided to be sure. I was worried. I'm not a huge fan of things going in my eyes and the kids behavior gave me pretty strong evidence the drops were going to burn. Dr. J volunteered to help me out. I lay down on the bed and put he dropped two drops in the corners of both of my closed eyes. Then I opened them and started blinking. I was ready to start screaming, gnashing teeth, kicking my hubby. And then the truth hit me. THE DROPS DON'T HURT AT ALL. NO STING! NO BURN! NO NOTHING! Water splashing in your eye in the shower hurts more. The drops are like tears, just part of your eye. The idea of having something put in ones eye, definitely unpleasant, the drops themselves are nothing. I told all this to Ezra and said, "What is the deal sweetie?" He laughed and gave me sheepish look and ran upstairs. Kids, who knows.

Monday, May 24, 2010

1) Huggies Coupons. I guess this makes sense. I've been changing diapers on and off again for six years. Can you believe it...SIX YEARS! Oh my! These coupons happened to come with coupons for Huggies "Jeans". I'm sorry but these made me feel a little sick. I'd rather just stick with cute cloth diapers. Also it looks like pigtail girl's mom has been changing diapers for six years as well. Yuck!

2) Fitness Magazine.

3) Classic Kathy Smith Step DVD. Are we seeing a theme here.

4) Ready Made Magazine. I love how funky the ideas are in this magazine. Way too funky for me to actually try out but they are fun to look at.

5) AT&T promotion. They just won't give up.

6) Wells Fargo statement. $16 in a savings account we keep forget to close whenever we are home is the only tie we still have to Utah...oh wait that and our family :)

7) A request from my condo company asking me to bring my drivers license in so they can get a copy. Seeing as this is the third one they've sent out I'd say my mail tells you I'm a procrastinator.

8) A postcard from Grandma and Grandpa Morgan letting us know they renewed their magazines through Ezra's school fundraiser. In the ps section grandpa wrote, "Always remember Transformers more than meets the eye." Funny in laws who love my kids. Aren't I lucky!

10) And drum roll please...2 U2 Tickets. Ok hopefully this concert is still on. I heard about Bono's emergency surgery. But if it is I can cross off something I've had on my list for 12 years. I'm a lucky girl :)

My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I picked Chosen up at the library because the cover art looked good. I've been reading a lot of young adult/older child fiction recently because the books read fast and I feel like they are about all my overwhelmed mama brain can handle. The story started out great and I really thought it was going to be a winner. Then Dekker brought in some humor in the form of bats. It got a little cheezy. I still think the book was worth reading. Yes the romance is underdevloped and the story is a little simplistic but the main charter was definitely likeable and the basic story line was intriguing. I like the idea of the Forest Guard, fighting off the disease that causes them to become part of the hoard with magical waters and bathing :) Maybe I should read it to my kids to encourage more showers. Chosen is part of a huge series of books that starts with three graphic novels and ends with a whole slew of books following this one. I will not be reading the graphic novels. My mind just doesn't work that way. I can't stand them. I will be checking out the following books though...at least for now.

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

I gave this book a five because when I finished it last night I just couldn't stop thinking about it. It begins in 1981 in a Northern Irish town bordering Southern Ireland. Fergus McCann is the second son, studying for his A level exams, trying to do well enough to leave Ireland and become a doctor. While out gathering peat with his Uncle Tally (Unk), Fergus finds the body of a 2000 year old Iron Age Child.

You have several stories going on. While studying for exams Fergus is falling in love Cora who has come with her mother to study the "Bog Child". He is befriending a soldier from the other side. He is being forced into becoming a runner for the IRA. Meanwhile the McCan family is in an uproar over the fact that Joe, the oldest son and member of the provisional IRA is on jail on a hunger strike. Woven throughout is the life of "Mel" discovered through dreams Fergus has.

After reading a third of the way through the book, I skipped to the end. I just don't handle surprises well and I wanted to know if someone was going to die. Knowing the end I returned, finished the story out and then skipped back to beginning to reread to see if there were clues I missed.

It tells an interesting piece of history. It part historical fiction, part mystery, part coming of age novel. It has a good Irish feel to it. The F bomb gets dropped one time that I remember. There is also a little bit of teenage hormones.

I don't know that this story would be for everyone but it is the kind of story that you finish and you just want someone else to talk about it with. Definitely interesting.

Yes it is possible. I had this horrible moment yesterday. I pulled my son's light clothes out of the dryer, his white uniform polo shirts, khaki uniform pants, underwear, socks, his Taekwondo uniform, all of it was marked up with red crayon. Red crayon also marked up the whole inside of my dryer. After an initial freak out I decided it was time to clean up the mess. I used a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser to clean off the drum of the dryer because my experience has been there is very little Mr. Clean can't clean. All the red came off easy. Then I got online to see if anyone had advice about how to get the crayon off the clothes. What did I ever do before the internet? Sure enough I wasn't the only person who had ever had a kid sneak a crayon in the wash via pocket, and after scratching any ideas that seemed super tedious (scrapping all the crayon off by hand) or involved ingredients I didn't have (glo be gone) here is what I finally settled on.

1) Put the clothes in the washer, and set the water to hot. I'm thinking as hot as you can get it to get the wax melting. If you are worried about your water getting hot enough consider adding a pot of boiling water. I didn't, but I like things to be easy.
2) Add your laundry detergent (I just used what I had on hand which was All Free and Clear), a 1/2 cup of vinegar, and 4-6 Tbs. of dish liquid (the stuff sitting on your counter that you would wash dishes by hand with).
3) Let the clothes soak for 10-15 minutes.
4) Let the wash run normal.

I followed the instructions but in the back of my mind I thought I was done for. I just knew all of the clothes were going to have to be replaced. I was a fool to doubt. When I pulled out the clothes almost all of the red was gone. Considering the mess I started with it was a miracle! Those pieces that were clean I just sent through my newly cleaned dryer. Their were a few pieces that still had a few traces of crayon on them. I threw those ones back into the washer and did the process again with them. Eureka! Everything was then clean. Thank you internet!!!

*This post is by far my most popular. It hasn't worked for everyone but at least three times a month I get an e-mail or a comment from someone saying it saved their bacon, so hopefully it will work for you. Since the original writing of this post I've had to do this three more times. I have four kids, am notoriously bad about checking pockets, and find that those crayons from restaurants have a way of sneaking home in pockets. So far it hasn't let me down.

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

We are a family not built for running. I mean really we just don't do it. We come from a long line of sitters. In fact I'm pretty sure one of the main reason that my familia has children is so they have someone to get them a glass of water while they are laying on the couch reading a young adult book. What can I say...it is both genetic and learned. There are the few that choose to buck the trend. Most recently both my cousin and my sister ran marathons. Can I just say that I'm so impressed. I've decided a marathon is like a baby being born. You don't just go out and run it, you train for months, sort of like the months of growing a baby. It is physical work. It takes time. You get stronger everyday. Then you go and do it. Just like a birth it is extremely physical and taxing. It is also an emotional endeavor. My sister said there were multiple times that she just wanted to cry. Then you finish and there is an extreme emotional high. In fact it passes to multiple people. When I talked with my sister I was filled with extreme joy. I was awed by her accomplishment. I knew this goal took dedication. It took time from her family. She was up early mornings training. She got blisters, sore muscles, toe nail damage. At one point she had to quit running because she had strained the tendon. She kept at it. This Saturday all her efforts paid off. She ran the Marathon in just under four hours. Up hills, down hills she kept moving. My sister is amazing. I'm so proud of her!